1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, telephony service billing is conducted periodically. At the end of the billing period, the accumulated call data stored on telecommunications switches is downloaded to a facility that combines data for a subscriber and then compiles a summarized billing for the subscriber which is sent for payment.
With the conventional accounting structure, billing information is not readily accessible during a call. For example, a telecommunications service provider cannot readily access the billing information in real-time to determine when a prepaid caller has run out of credit.
A service control point is a central intelligent network node where service logic is executed. A previous implementation of a billing system for prepaid services has integrated a custom billing system into the service control point. However, such a solution is costly and lacks flexibility.